BILL BARR, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, it started out under the Presidential Records Act and the Archives trying to retrieve documents that Trump had no right to have, but it quickly became clear what the government was worried about were these classified and very sensitive documents. I was shocked by the degree of sensitivity of these documents and how many there were, frankly.
And so, the government's agenda was to get those -- protect those documents and get them out. And I think it was perfectly appropriate to do that. It was a right thing to do, and I think the counts under Espionage Act that he willfully retained those documents are solid counts.
Now, I do think we have to wait and see the defense says, and what proves to be true. But I do think that half of what Andy McCarthy, which -- if even half of it is true, then he’s toast. I mean, it’s a pretty -- it’s a very detailed indictment, and it’s very, very damming.
And this idea of presenting Trump as a victim here -- a victim of a witch hunt is ridiculous. Yes, he’s been a victim in the past. Yes, his adversaries have obsessively pursued him with phony claims. And I’ve -- and I’ve been by his side defending against them when he is a victim.
But this is much different. He’s not a victim here. He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents.
Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets the country has. He -- they have to be in the custody of the archivist. He had no right to maintain them and retain them, and he kept them in a way at Mar-a-Lago, that anyone who really cares about national security would -- their stomach would churn at it.
SHANNON BREAM, FOX NEWS: So, you see these as different and separate from what he would term the Russian hoax, from what we saw from the Durham report? You see these as two totally separate tracks?
BARR: Yes, because in the Russia -- there was nothing -- there was no problem or issue underlying the Russia-gate claim. It was an effort to knock him out with a false claim.
Here, I think the government acted responsibly. They gave him every opportunity to return those documents. They acted with restraint. They were very differential to him and they were very patient.
They talked to him for almost a year to try to get those documents and he jerked them around. They finally went to a subpoena, and what did he do? According to the government, he lied and obstructed that subpoena.
And then they did a search, and they found a lot more documents. And they’re not even -- I don't think they’re even sure now whether they have everything.
So, they acted in a very patient way. And what they were met was, according to the government, and the indictment, very egregious obstruction.